


The Fury And The Hunted

by AHeartForStories



Series: AHeartForStories' Whumptober 2020 [28]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Blood, Gen, Night Fury, Whump, Whumptober 2020, dragon - Freeform, hunting season
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:41:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27255130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AHeartForStories/pseuds/AHeartForStories
Summary: Written for Whumptober Day 28. Set in my Httyd Zombie AU. The end of the world makes way for certain extremes, even religious ones. The Dragon Riders try not to mingle with any groups, but when one gets a hold of them, Hiccup won't have a good time.
Relationships: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Toothless
Series: AHeartForStories' Whumptober 2020 [28]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1949440
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19





	The Fury And The Hunted

**Author's Note:**

> Almost didn't post this one. But here it is.  
> Whumptober prompt: Hunting season
> 
> Constructive criticism is appreciated.  
> Enjoy.

The Order of the Dragon, that is what the group calls themselves. They are a bunch of religious zealots who have formed shortly after Outbreak Day. They believe that dragons are "the true inheritors" of the world, that humans have been in their way for too long and that this is the reason why human civilization as they used to know it fell. As punishment for taking up space.

Before they met them, the Dragon Riders already saw signs of them. Things like "in fire, they'll rise" or "the world will burn and belong to them once more" written in large letters on brick walls or old, peeled-off billboards. There were surprisingly creepy effigies that were vaguely dragon-shaped. Large murals of what appeared to be the end of times where humanity died horrifically in a sea of flames while dragons flew into the light, into a better tomorrow.

It was unnerving to say the least and the Dragon Riders had decided to not seek these people out. But not running into them and getting into deep trouble would be hugely out of character for them, so that is exactly what ends up happening.

The location they are at is a jungle. Not one made of trees and green, but out of tall buildings and grey. This isn't their home turf, so when the Order caught wind of the Dragon Riders and decided they needed to have them, it was embarrassingly easy to capture them.

Hiccup finds himself thrown down a hole. They'd singled him out, because of course they have, and separated him and Toothless.

He doesn't know why and they didn't tell him what he's supposed to be doing here either. They just spouted some nonsense about Night Furies and proving yourself worthy in front of whatever or something or other. Hiccup didn't listen too closely, much too preoccupied with his group and not getting separated from his Bud before they threw him down here.

He's lucky to have a slope break his fall. Rolling the rest of the way down, over dirt and stones, only to then collide with the remains of a support beam was horrendous. His back is sure to bruise.

Now he's here, back on his feet and staring up at the night sky and not hearing or seeing his friends or the group that has captured them.

He hopes this won't end too badly for him and that his friends will be okay.

He turns away from the hole he'd come through and stares at what lies before him. Nothing but pitch-black darkness as far as the eye can see, which isn't very far at all.

This must be a basement of some sort. An underground parking lot? What little light the moonlight can give is reflected in the back shield window of a car. Other than that, he can make nothing out.

He can't go back up, it's much too high and too steep. So the only way left is forwards.

He goes to a knee and searches his prosthetic. It's been modified to hold certain items in case his pack ever goes missing and since it has been taken by Order, he has to fish a flashlight out of his fake leg.

He flicks it on and thinks of how hasn't changed the batteries in quite a while, hopefully, it'll last him for however long he's expected to be down here.

Taking a deep and nervous breath, he wills his feet to carry him forward.

There is little else to find in this place. Other than proof that his underground parking lot theory is right, judging by the cars he finds and the parking space painted on the ground.

There is the occasional dead body, but they are all too far gone to be of any real threat if they weren't quite as dead as they were supposed to be yet.

He passes them without giving them much thought, too used to the sight by now, and continues looking.

It's quiet in here and that unsettles him. Not that he's usually surrounded by heaps of noise, but everything is supposed to make a sound. Here, the dead are silent and the scuttling of rats is missing. Here, the only one making sound is him and that is concerning.

He comes to a standstill in the darkness, slowly waving his flashlight around to see if he can scan anything in his surroundings. But apart from another beam here and there, there is nothing.

His heart's pounding grows worse. He would be able to keep his cool a lot better if Toothless was here with him.

The silence stretches on and Hiccup isn't sure where to go. He's been walking in a straight line so far, he could continue that way until he hits a wall and then he can only go right or left. Whichever direction he takes is bound to give him one of two things. A general idea of how big this place is or a way out and both will only be beneficial for him.

So he continues on the way forward, walking the straight line until the first wall he hits. There is the brief thought that he should've done this back at the hole he'd been thrown into, where there were walls to follow on each side of him.

But he has eventually reached it, the other side of the parking lot. He halts and touches the cool surface as if relieved to have found it.

But then he notices something.

Pulling his hand back, he finds it is covered in soot. So this wall has been burned before. By a dragon, judging from the pattern. Hiccup backs away and lifts the flashlight to take a look. It is quite a sizeable scorch mark.

With this new development, he turns towards the body nearest to him and walks over, kneeling by it to find that it isn't one of the turned. This is someone who had been killed by something else and context clues would suggest by a dragon. Perhaps the same one responsible for the fire damage to the wall.

Is that what he's meant to do down here? Meet a dragon? Survive this dragon? Either way, something with the dragon that has made this place its home.

But what kind of species would make its home in such darkness? Not many prefer a den underground like this.

Feeling the pressure, Hiccup searches his limited dragon knowledge.

A Whispering Death? No, they usually prefer to make a home more north of the globe, he believes. And they dwell in hole they make themselves, too, a burrow made out of a complex system. This wouldn't do for them. Unless he simply had the luck to not stumble upon, or into, one of the many holes this species is known for.

The second species that comes to mind is the Night Fury. He remembers once meeting Toothless in a place just as dark. The scorch mark is similar to his Bud's.

Standing back up, Hiccup has to swallow a lump in his throat and his pulse, which had slowed during his walk, is quickening again.

A Whispering Death he can barely deal with, especially on his own, but a Night Fury? He has a feeling kind words, some fish, and compassion won't work on this one.

Hiccup forces himself to be hyper-aware of his surroundings. He's always alert, he has to be in order to survive, but he strains his hearing to try and pick up anything that he might've possibly missed.

Soft shuffling? The nearly undetectable movement of a predator sizing up its easy prey? Hiccup has made it so deliciously easy for it, standing in total darkness with the only light source around.

The fear must be obvious on his face. Though he tries to suppress it, he knows it's there as his eyes search the void surrounding him.

It's there somewhere. He doesn't need to see or hear it to know that it is. After being out here in the new wild, he has a sense for that, they all do. Night Furies are feared for a reason, too.

What should he do? Continue on and search for the way out? Maybe there's a staircase somewhere, something a fully grown dragon of this species will not easily fit into.

It would seem like he has no other choice. What other option would there be? The hole? He'd need wings to get out of there by himself. Or at least a rope with something to hook it onto the ground floor.

So he steels his shaky nerves as much as he is able and continues onward.

His footsteps are echoing uncomfortably loud in this deathly silence, his left prosthetic dragging just a tad bit. As he decides to go left, he swears he can feel a pair of eyes following him. His gut feeling tells him that he isn't simply imagining it.

Any moment now. He could be attacked at any moment and he has nothing to defend himself with. He has a tiny knife, but what good will that do against a dragon?

And what will it be? Torn to shreds? Ripped limb from limb? Blasted to pieces? Or will his fate not be as gentle or as swift?

He hates this. He hates this with every fiber of his being. He almost wants it to just happen already, to get it over with just so he won't have to suffer through this ever-building stress longer than he has to.

He's sweating, he can feel his clothes starting to stick to him, to his back and under his armpits especially. If that dragon can't already hear him, he can certainly smell him.

Finally, he reaches the exit, or rather, what should've been the exit.

It is hard to see at night, but a gate blocks his way out and it is locked with a sturdy padlock. If he had something to pick it, that wouldn't be a problem, but all of that is in his stolen backpack. The only ones carrying a multitude of lockpicks on their person itself would be the twins, Ruffnut in particular. So he's trapped.

He could try to find a way around it, if he has the time to. Hiccup swears he can feel the walls closing in on him.

He's trapped with a dragon possibly stalking him. If he doesn't manage a way around this lock, his only other option are the stairs and that is only if this parking lot even has them.

Taking a deep breath to calm his fraying nerves, Hiccup wants to stay here and work on this lock first, but before he can, he swears that there is something behind him.

In the process of pulling a tool from his prosthetic, he can feel the unnerving chill run down his spine and the hair on the back of his neck rise. He halts. Is that breathing that he hears? He's been paying extra attention and so he knows that wasn't there before.

It's waiting for him to turn and face it, it's waiting for him to run. His legs certainly want to, even though they feel like jelly.

But he wouldn't be standing here today if he wasn't good at pushing through his fear, he just has to push some more.

He gets back up to his feet and turns, shaking, holding the flashlight up and the face that stares back at him isn't his Bud's toothless smile. It is that of a ferocious predator staring at its next meal.

Its eyes blink in the light and it growls. To avoid angering it further, Hiccup decides to lower the beam.

"Dragons don't eat humans. Dragons don't eat humans." He tells himself, knowing well enough that there's a chance it can understand him.

He backs up, stumbling with his prosthetic, and the face moves along with him. It snarls and grows limbs as it treads into the beam of light claws scraping threateningly on the ground.

It is a Night Fury, but this isn't normal hunting behavior. He's seen Toothless hunt before and they don't do it like this. This one is almost ordering him to back up and all Hiccup can do is listen until he hits the gate, which rattles behind him.

Is that a sick sense of glee he sees appearing on the dragon's face? Who knew even dragons could have the occasional sadist?

With little elsewhere to go and nothing to defend himself with, Hiccup feels his Night Fury's name on the tip of his tongue, it is stuck in his throat to the point that he can barely breathe.

This is a much larger specimen, too. Most likely quite a bit older than Toothless, but age probably doesn't hinder it at all.

It's piercingly yellow eyes are glued to him. It's growling grows as it towers over him, intimidating him into cowering.

It then gestures to the side with its head and Hiccup realizes Toothless isn't the only one mimicking human behavior. And yet as fascinating as it is, it is ten times more terrifying as it's telling him to run.

"Run!" That face commands. It doesn't want meek prey, it wants to chase.

"Oh, fuck me." He doesn't swear often, barely at all, but when he does, it's with tears of terror blurring his vision.

An instinct to survive wants him to run, too, and he listens. Hoping that it's at least a little bit caught off guard, he springs into action, going for the right.

The Night Fury watches Hiccup go, disappearing in the darkness as he turns the flashlight off.

He's seen a car or two parked in this direction. He reaches it, hands on the dusty hull, and kneels.

He can't see anything without his flashlight and the worst part is that his predator still has ways of seeing him.

But it's not trying to lurk this time, he can hear its weight shifting where he once stood. It's not even in a hurry to follow him.

The car he's kneeling by groans under a heavy weight and that is the only hint he'll get to know that its standing over him. He's still trembling and struggles to draw air.

He lights his lighter, doesn't even dare look up, and spots his next hiding spot. Unfortunately, they'll exist solely out of cars and support beams. Fortunately, however, that this Night Fury wants this to be a game probably means he won't be immediately killed. Probably.

He kills the light before he moves away from the vehicle, diving under the next one. It won't give him as much safety as he would've liked, but it's something between him and it.

He wonders what he should do. Well, logically he knows he should calm down first as he won't be getting anywhere by panicking and acting on pure instinct alone. Here, he can take a moment.

It's not easy. He can hear the dragon circling the car, still not trying to be silent as it wants Hiccup to hear it prowl.

It's having the desired effect. He's trying really hard to stay calm, but hearing clawed paws scratching the ground in endless circles around him is making that very hard.

He takes deep breaths, in and out, in order to not give in to the dragon's tactic. He has to stay calm, he needs to remind himself of that. Only then can he think his way out of this.

What does he have at his disposal? That question is answered quickly as the answer is absolutely nothing. That flashlight, a knife, his pocket multitool? Does he have that? Checking his pocket, he comes to the relieving conclusion that it's still there. His most prized possession, they didn't take it from him. Not that they were smart enough to search his pockets.

Knowing that he has it with him sets him at ease a little and Hiccup lets out a calming breath. The Night Fury stalking him bangs on the hood of the car to rile him up and Hiccup jumps, but it's easier to will himself into a slightly more peaceful state of mind. As peaceful as one can be in this predicament.

These are the things he has and with these things he'll have to make a plan.

Luckily for him, one may already be forming.

When the Night Fury is on one side of the car, Hiccup rolls out from the other side. It hears him and steps over the vehicle with a roar of excitement. It was almost beginning to wonder if his newest prey was simply going to lie there and wait for death.

It wants to take a swipe at him, just to see how this one will react, but Hiccup turns to him, holds up his trusty flashlight, and flicks it on. The flash of the light will mean the dragon's eyesight needs at least a second to adjust. It has been blinded.

Hiccup runs back to the gate. He wants the dragon to blast it open for him, but he's going to have to do something to push the dragon that far. Risk his life pissing it off? It probably won't end well, but his options are dwindling quickly.

He doesn't have much dragon knowledge to fall back on either. Ever since meeting Toothless, he's been interested in learning more about dragons, but he already has so much to worry about, he doesn't have much time. The only knowledge he picks up on is the kind that helps him stay alive.

He's running completely blind on his way back, and he nearly stumbles over the corpse he found earlier. He can hear the Night Fury approach and he shines the flashlight right in its face again, blinding it once more.

The dragon already lets out an agitated snarl at just the second time and Hiccup figures that pissing it off won't be a problem. It's probably used to less levelheaded prey.

"Oh great, just like I wanted." Hiccup puffs and continues on his way to the gate. He sees it with a quick glimpse of the light and makes use of his good memory to remember where it is as he runs towards it.

He reaches it, hand grabbing hold of the gate locking him in and turns to blind the Night Fury again as its right behind him already.

It lets out an enraged cry as it's temper flares. It lashes out, but not with a blast like Hiccup had hoped, instead striking him with its claws and hitting his chest. Four deep lashes bleed through his shirts on his left breast. A cry leaves him and Hiccup falls to the ground.

Instead of finding himself frozen in place, Hiccup jumps back into action and backs away, flashing the light repeatedly to confuse the dragon on the distance between them.

It works, it's not immediately right on top of him again, and Hiccup struggles to his feet. The only reason why he's still moving after taking a hit such as that must be his will to live.

Free hand pressing fruitlessly down on his wounds, Hiccup wonders if he should give his plan a second try and just be better at dodging. That Night Fury is going to have to blast at him at some point, right?

He doesn't get a second chance. His predator has already learned that Hiccup might not be as fun as his previous prey and it's a sore loser.

Always an agile and fast dragon, it cuts Hiccup off and he knows only because he can hear it. It swipes for a second time and Hiccup is thrown to the ground, skull almost smashing against the concrete ground.

It hovers over him with a snarl and it hits him once more, flinging him back in the other direction, its claws getting caught and tearing through his clothing.

Hiccup climbs back up to his feet somehow, but it doesn't like that and it grabs hold of him to pull him back down. It roars in his face, it's a deafening sound.

Not knowing what else to do, Hiccup takes his knife and swipes back, cutting its lip and nose.

Far from a killing blow, that move enrages it and that's when it finally charges a blast.

Sadly, Hiccup isn't standing before the gate, is instead lying underneath the Fury's jaws.

Fortune is on his side as someone does blast the gate open and upon spotting the scene lit up with a lavender light, that someone cries out in outrage.

Hiccup looks over.

"Toothless!"

And he isn't the only one, the other Dragons follow swiftly. He's been saved.

The hostile Night Fury looks at the five new arrivals and feels threatened. Hookfang steps forward, lighting his hide on fire, and growls challengingly. He's warning it to back off.

Knowing that it's outnumbered, it does and retreats back towards the shadows. It is once again silent.

Toothless quickly approaches and frets over his Rider, but Hiccup doesn't let him, wrapping his arms around his Bud's neck and just savoring the feeling of being rescued.

"Oh, I'm so happy to see you, Bud." Hiccup tells him and Toothless sits, allowing him to have his hug. He can smell the blood on him, but knows that Fishlegs and the others can't be far behind them. He can take a look at Hiccup and then all will be well again.


End file.
